Ceramics and glass business news of the week

Saint-Gobain announced plans for a new, state-of-the-art North American corporate headquarters in Malvern, Pa., where it has signed a long-term lease for 320,000 square feet of space. The 65-acre Chester County campus, previously the headquarters for Aegon Group, will be transformed into a LEED-certified facility for Saint-Gobain and its North American construction materials subsidiary, CertainTeed Corporation. The redesign of the campus will be led by E. Kahn Development Corporation and J. Loew Associates in collaboration with AEGON Realty Advisors with construction expected to begin this month and be completed by fall 2015.

The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martina $25 million contract to design, build, and test a 60-kilowatt electric laser to be integrated and tested in a truck-mounted weapon system demonstrator. The laser weapon is designed to significantly improve the warfighters’ ability to counter rockets, artillery, mortars, and unmanned aerial threats. Under a contract managed by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Technical Center, the laser will be integrated on the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD). This ruggedized laser builds on the compnay’s work under the current Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI) contract for the Army.

Lockheed Martin announced it continues to meet and exceed established sustainability goals as outlined in the corporation’s 2013 Sustainability Report. The full report is available at www.lockheedmartin.com/sustainability environment because it’s the right thing to do.” The 2013 Sustainability Report highlights operational efficiency, resource efficiency, governance, product performance, information security, talent competitiveness, supplier sustainability, community and educational contributions, and sustainability honors.

A new Freedonia Group report says world fuel cell spending—including research and development funding, investment in fuel cell enterprises, and revenue derived from commercial sales—is projected to advance nearly 10 percent per year to $11 billion in 2017 and then almost double through 2022. Commercial demand for fuel cell products and services (including revenues from prototyping, demonstration, and test marketing) will more than double to $4 billion in 2017 and then nearly triple through 2022. The share of total fuel cell expenditures accounted for by commercial demand will climb from one-fifth in 2012 to more than half of all spending in 2022.

The global ceramic coatings market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.50% from 2014 to 2019 to reach a value of $9.41 billion. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing usage of this coating in automotive components and aerospace and defense sectors. New product developments, capacity and business expansions, and the increasing demand for plasma-sprayed ceramic based coating in semiconductor, and LCD equipments will push the ceramic coatings market ahed in the near future. Ceramic coatings include compositions based on alumina, alumina–magnesia, chromium, silica, silicon carbide, titania, silicon nitride, zirconia, and many others.